Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford

Alexander William Crawford Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford, 8th Earl of Balcarres (16 October 1812 – 13 December 1880), styled Lord Lindsay between 1825 and 1869, was a Scottish peer, art historian and collector.

Lindsay was born at Muncaster Castle in Cumbria, the son of James Lindsay, 24th Earl of Crawford. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford. On 23 July 1846 he married Margaret Lindsay, daughter of Lt Gen James Lindsay and sister of Robert James Loyd-Lindsay VC KCB, 1st and last Baron Wantage of Lockinge. They had 7 children, including his heir, James Ludovic.

He travelled widely studying art. He published "Progression by Antagonism" in 1846 and "Sketches of the History of Christian Art" in 1847. He became an avid art collector and many of his acquisitions are on display in galleries around the world.

He travelled to the Middle East in 1837/38, writing Letters on Egypt, Edom and the Holy Land.

His other passion was genealogy. He was the author of the three volume Lives of the Lindsays on the genealogy of his family. In 1868 he published A memoir of Lady Anna Mackenzie, countess of Balcarres and afterwards of Argyll, 1621-1706] which recorded the life of Lady Anna Mackenzie.

He inherited the earldom of Crawford and the earldom of Balcarres from his father James Lindsay, 24th Earl of Crawford, 7th Earl of Balcarres and was succeeded by his son James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford.

Lindsay died in 1880 in Florence, Italy and his coffin was brought home for burial in a new family crypt at Dunecht House, near Aberdeen. Some time afterwards the body was stolen and eventually recovered from a shallow grave 14 months later. A monument marks where the body was found at Dunecht but the Earl's remains were buried again in the family vault in Wigan. A local poacher was convicted of grave-robbing.

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